111–120 of 292 posts
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No, they don't. Landlords are complete drains on society. They don't 'provide' housing. They limit supply and drive up costs for everyone else.
For multiple periods spanning over two decades in my life, I greatly appreciated the opportunity to live indoors without having to first purchase a house or apartment where I wanted to live.
I recently came across this comment by Philip Greenspun: “if you bought an asset for $10,000 in 2000, for example, the BLS says you spent $15,700 in today’s mini-dollars; if you sell it for $15,000 in 2021 you’ve actually suffered a loss, but will owe capital gains tax nonetheless” ( https://philip.greenspun.com/blog/2021/04/29/economic-wisdom... ). I’m not a finance person, and this had never occurred to me. Does he…
Isn't that the same way it works for buying stocks? I don't live in the US, but if I buy stocks for 100$, then sell them five years later for 150$, I have to pay a percentage of the winnings (so a % of 50$). This means that if inflation was more than what's left over after the taxes are removed then I would effectively "lose" money.
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I doubt any business owners are thinking about moving to Portland.
When I lived there a few years ago, there was an increasing amount of tech companies from Seattle opening up offices in Portland.
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The first 250k in profits from capital gains are exempt. It is estimated that this tax only affects the 7000 richest individuals in Washington. Keep in mind we don't have any income taxes here.
If I have a liquidity event at my startup, I'm going to be hit with this, right? Like many startup engineers, I've been taking less pay for shares for several years now. Funny, I don't feel like one of the richest 7000 individuals in Washington. And I guarantee you as an early engineer, I'm likely going to hit 250k, but get nothing close to founder cashout money.
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They're saying if that growth occured over 60 years then you've just kept up with inflation. Might as well have just put it in a standard savings account and NOT get capital gains tax. *Well, maybe a standard money market account or bond.
Bonds also incur capital gains tax) The point of the capital gains taxes/inflation is specifically to incentivize people spending money over saving (if too many people saved money the economy would contract). It's not a perfect tool, but it works somewhat.
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They're saying if that growth occured over 60 years then you've just kept up with inflation. Might as well have just put it in a standard savings account and NOT get capital gains tax. *Well, maybe a standard money market account or bond.
Wait, wouldn't you get taxed capital gains on a standard savings account? I'm genuinely curious even though right now saving accounts are not saving anything at all.
these are exactly the kind of tax structures that just beg to be gamed by the wealthy. instead, there should be no cutoff at all, and especially no exemptions for real estate, much of which is unproductive rent-seeking. the tax should be a smooth function with positive slope, not a discontinuous one with carve-outs. combined with lowering taxes elsewhere, it would encourage broader investment rather than hoarding, es…
why do you think a tax on investing would encourage investment? It would encourage not selling your investments, or investing in investments which don't produce capital gains, which tends to look like hoarding.
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> especially if it's earmarked for childhood education. If it's earmarked for childhood education then don't be surprised if other childhood education funds are reallocated elsewhere.
Haha yes ... earmarking funds for noble causes is the ultimate fake out. Lottery money all goes to noble causes right, right?
Here's the 2020 financial report for WA's lottery: https://walottery.com/About/assets/docs/20AnnualReport.pdf
Page 31 is probably what you're looking for. The majority of payments ($141 million) went to the Washington Opportunity Pathways Account, relevant statute here: https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=28B.76.526
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They're saying if that growth occured over 60 years then you've just kept up with inflation. Might as well have just put it in a standard savings account and NOT get capital gains tax. *Well, maybe a standard money market account or bond.
Earned interest is taxed as income at the federal level.
Why is real estate always exempt from this stuff? Is there a good reason or is the special interest just large?
There's a fairness argument that can be made (but probably should only apply to primary residences only) - you buy a house for $100k in Seattle 10 years ago - now you want to move to another neighborhood into an identical house, but both are now worth upwards of $500k - you'd have to come up with the tax difference on the "profit" even though all you're doing is moving between nearly identical properties. Also stock…